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Expresii now available as free public beta

Expresii, the startup founded by former Adobe and Microsoft graphics researcher Nelson Chu, has released a public beta of Expresii, its promising digital brush-and-ink painting system.

Let virtual ink flow and blend on virtual paper
In development for several years – we covered an early tech demo back in 2013 – Expresii mimics the behaviour of real inks on paper, including the way they flow under gravity and the way colours blend.

It’s designed to replicate traditional Eastern painting – the brush engine mimics the deformations of an actual calligraphy brush – but as the demo videos show, it can be used to create a range of other work.

The software can generate images up to 12K resolution, and is GPU-accelerated to smooth out panning and zooming, although the hardware requirements are quite low: a $60-100 graphics card is recommended.

It supports both pen and touch input, and if you’ve got a device with a tilt sensor (or a game controller), you can even tilt your virtual paper to control the flow of the ink.

Pricing and availability
Expresii is available as a free public beta for Windows 7+. If you’re on a Mac, you’ll need to run it via Bootcamp.

On installation, the software will prompt you to get a licence key from Gumroad, where you can choose to make a voluntary donation, or enter a figure of $0 to use the beta for free.

There is also a free older version, Expresii Lite, which restricts you to a single ink colour and paper type.